Thursday, March 27, 2008

Remember that one time? Real solutions for fishing...

Hey, remember that one time? The time I went fishing in Minnesota and I caught that record walleye? You remember. I had light test weight line on my reel and was just jigging the rocks for perch when I landed that monster. Almost fell off the boat. Crazy stuff. Remember how everyone was clapping for me when I finally brought it in? Took me the better part of an hour to reel it in, but that party in the lodge later was worth every minute. Man, that was AWESOME.

What? Oh yeah.

It was a baby bullhead. That's right. I caught it off the dock? Oh, right. Well, it did struggle. And that kid did clap. We did buy a six pack at the lodge later, too.

The important thing to remember is that I am an experienced angler who knows what it takes to land the big ones. I have experience with Minnesota lake fishing and can deliver real answers for your bait questions. I have REAL solutions for fishing.

That record walleye? Sorry, I'm sleep deprived. I was up late last night. People keep calling me at 3 a.m. with crises. I guess I misspoke.

1 comment:

It was so ironic to hear Bill Clinton talk about just having an argument, wasn't it?

Isn't that what this primary could have been about? Isn't that what this campaign has been ducking this entire time? Except for bullshit arguments, of course, that totally sell short the experienced contributions of people who really have more relevant experience (if you're Joe Biden, or even Bill Richardson or Chris Dodd, you've got to be wanting to fuckin' throttle that woman for the audacity of her bullshit; that might be a book idea for Clinton after she gets her fuckin' ass handed to her - I don't even want to think about if she weasels her way to a general election).

This debate has been so elementary that the only thing that could fuck up a decision would be a lay judge. I'm not saying Hillary couldn't have won a decision. She just didn't make the arguments.

And that's the fuckin' wild card in every election. No wonder we had to debate in front of Ma and Pa Kettle every week. Hillary decided to go for the lay judges. But I think we underestimate the capacity of lay judges to step up to the plate.

You know what I always liked about experienced judges? Even if you disagreed with them, as long as they weren't totally asswipes, you could sit and have a reasonable and interesting discussion about the decision after the round.

I just don't sense that I would have much interest in a discussion with Hillary Clinton after the round, at this point. She's just kind of weasley. Trying to eek out the win, even if it's at the expense of everything that matters in the process.

I'm so tired of that bullshit.

I do wish we could just have a an honest argument. Because I've got quite a few questions I would love to pose to that couple, if they would be willing to answer honestly. Namely, how they justify a record of superior experience, of better judgment, or that even their ideas about foreign policy are actually effective given the actual track record. Bill can point to some successes on his watch. But Hillary is in a serious pinch. And much of that pinch was, I'm sure, a result of intense strategizing on the part of both of that duo.

What really sucks, John, is very much like my job. If we stopped wasting so much goddamn time on the debates and constroversies that don't mean shit, we could be using that time to have discussions that actually get us somewhere and where novel and original ideas could be nurtured and an environment for brainstorming ideas, even bad ones, could both facilitate innovative thinking and soften the edge to admitting when we have bad ideas. It's the dumbest goddamn thing in the world, I think, that we have such a hard time admitting mistakes in politics (and just in life) when the mistakes are high. Not admitting them or pretending like we can beat them out of existence doesn't make them go away. It just means everyone weasels out of admitting them rather than acknowledging them. It's goddamn ridiculous is what it is. And I have full confidence that our grandchildren and their children and granchildren will see it the same way, just as we do about our parents and earlier generations.

All I know, John, is that I need something to achieve for myself that is completely independent of the opinions and the assholes that are as plentiful in the world. I think I'm going to stick it out with this teaching gig, write this book, write a script or a novel or two, and all that jazz.

But one thing I like about the money world is that the numbers are harder to quarrel with.

I love the debates. But I get tired of the manipulation and bullshit that go with them, all the time. I need something that's just mine that I don't have to wait for others to validate.

The validation, along with the real good you do in the world, is the only real reward in the gigs I chose. And it's a lot more hard-slogging than I ever imagined.

I need to have something for myself that doesn't even really give two shits about what anyone else thinks and is just for me, and my family. I'm tired of wondering, all the time, if people will take my thinking seriously or my teaching contributions. I just do that other stuff because I love it and I love it because I know it matters.

But I need something for me, too.

I've realized watching the rich and powerful and famous that the last thing I would want is to have all that money and power and know it's all bullshit. I want to earn it the right way and do some good in the world, along the way.

And I want Hillary Clinton to take a time out. And to not think about the next election, for awhile. And just think about herself and her choices and why she thinks she wants the Presidency that bad. And what she needs to do if she's going to earn peoples' trust.